During the Great Depression in America, the federal government undertook a number of projects for the purpose of giving work to the unemployed and accomplishing worthy goals of benefit to the nation. One such endeavor was the American Imprints Inventory conducted by the Work Projects Administration (WPA).

The purpose of this bibliographic effort was to identify for selected states all printed materials that emanated from each chosen jurisdiction prior to 1877. This date was ostensibly arrived at because 1876 was the centennial year of America's birth, a patriotic occasion which resulted in a great deal of exercise for local presses.